Linger(18)

Rand stopped at Emily’s stool and smiled at her.

“It’s good to see you again, Miss Emily. It’s been a long time.”

She smiled. Rand had always been polite, extremely courteous and shy around her.

“Hello, Rand.”

“Will you be visiting long?”

She stilled, unsure of how to answer his question. Of course he’d assume she was visiting. The ranch had

never actually been her home even if she’d spent most of her time here when she was younger.

“She’s not leaving,” Taggert said in his don’t-argue-with-me voice.

It certainly seemed as if he were sending her a message rather than answering Rand’s innocent question.

Rand smiled and nodded. “Welcome home, then.”

“Thank you.”

The hands called out their greetings, some of them echoing Rand’s welcome home. There weren’t any

new faces. The most recent hire had been years ago when Emily was still a permanent fixture at the ranch.

Taggert and Greer were good men to work for. Their hands’ longevity was a testament to that.

Taggert’s words lingered in her mind. He didn’t want her to go. Greer didn’t want her to go. But did she

have a future here? And in what capacity did they want her to stay? Greer had been blunt. He wanted her.

What did she want? What did she need?

God, but she missed Sean’s smile. His understanding. The way he made love to her. The way he made her

feel. She tried so hard not to feel guilty. He wouldn’t want her to. He’d be the last person to want her to

languish over his memory. Unfortunately, knowing it and practicing it were not the same. Not when every

waking moment reminded her that if she’d made different decisions so many lives wouldn’t have

changed.

Lost in thought, she ate quietly, not really listening to the conversation around her. One by one, the hands

got up, collected their sack lunches and disappeared out the back door to go to work.

“Make me a list, Buck, and we’ll pick up what you need while we’re in town,” Taggert said as he leaned

back in his seat.

She blinked when Greer turned toward her.

“Go get dressed, Emmy,” he said. “You can ride in with us and do your shopping.”





Chapter Eight


When Greer had first suggested replacing her wardrobe, she hadn’t considered that it would mean going

into Creed’s Pass. She hadn’t set foot in the town since she’d fled after Sean’s death.

Now she stood in front of the small all-purpose mercantile, her fists clenched at her sides as she glanced

furtively down the main stretch of town.

Her gaze alighted on Tilly’s motel, and she flinched, closing her eyes in pain as that night came back. Her

and Sean laughing. Walking along hand in hand from the corner café after dinner, returning to their room.

They hadn’t stayed at the ranch. They never did. Not since they’d married and the visits back had been so

awkward. That was her fault. It was she who couldn’t bear to face Taggert and Greer and pretend that

nothing had ever happened.

The man had come out of nowhere, the knife glinting in the light from the streetlamps. Sean stepped in

front of her to fend off the attack and took the blade to his chest.

The attacker’s hand wrapped around her throat, squeezing as she screamed until he silenced her.

Alerted by her screams, several nearby people rushed into the street. Her attacker had dropped her but not

the knife, and then he’d run. Never to be found. Was he still out there?

She’d dropped to Sean’s inert figure, her hands pressing against the terrible wound in his chest. Blood, so

much of it, spilled onto the street.

He’d known. God, he’d known. He looked up at her with such love in his eyes. Then he’d told her he

loved her before taking his last breath.

Her breath released in a silent stutter, and she squeezed her eyes shut, determined not to lose her

composure.

“Emmy?”

Taggert’s concerned voice reached past the oppressive weight of her grief. She turned to see him standing

there, his dark eyes filled with so much understanding it was nearly her undoing.

“I should have thought,” he said. “We’ve been back into town so many times that I forgot this is your first

time back.”

She shook her head as if somehow she could deny the agony that stabbed as sharp and as deep as the

knife that had ended Sean’s life.

“I’m okay,” she managed to get out. “Let’s go in.”

He touched her arm reassuringly, and Greer opened the door so they could walk in.

She couldn’t muster much enthusiasm for clothes shopping. She chose a few pairs of jeans and simple T-